


Words Never Spoken, Wished For All The More

by LadyShadowphyre



Series: The Stony BROmance [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, Howard's A+ Parenting, Steve Rogers Just Wants To Be Friends, This Is Me Failing Miserably To Write Fluff, This Is Me Trying To Write Fluff, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, fury is a manipulative bastard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-04
Updated: 2013-01-04
Packaged: 2017-11-23 13:56:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He sounds proud of you," he said instead, carefully even. Tony didn't start, didn't flinch, and Steve wondered if the man had even heard him before Tony's head dipped in a slight nod.</p><p>"He does, I suppose," Tony said, just as evenly as Steve. Steve felt that flash of anger - how could his friend's son just not care that his father was proud of him?! - until Tony continued, "It's fake, though."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words Never Spoken, Wished For All The More

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Avengerkink Prompt: [Altered Messages](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/4305.html?thread=2524113#t2524113) What if that message in Iron Man 2 from Howard to Tony was really for Steve but altered by Fury and Steve and Tony found out?
> 
> I did my best to give it a happy ending, but mostly this just proves I'm incapable of really writing fluff without angst. ^^;;;

**S** TEVE FOUND TONY IN THE DARKENED LAB, a reeled film playing against one wall as Tony made careful notes on a tablet. Steve almost retreated, not wanting to intrude, but then he noticed the film itself and froze, breath catching.

_"You were always my greatest creation, Tony..."_

"JARVIS, rewind five point seven three minutes, replay," Tony's voice broke through, clinical and dispassionate, and Steve felt a surge of anger that he wrestled down quickly.

"He sounds proud of you," he said instead, carefully even. Tony didn't start, didn't flinch, and Steve wondered if the man had even heard him before Tony's head dipped in a slight nod.

"He does, I suppose," Tony said, just as evenly as Steve. Steve felt that flash of anger - how could his friend's son just not care that his father was proud of him?! - until Tony continued, "It's fake, though."

"What?" Steve blurted out, thrown.

"JARVIS, pause playback," Tony said, turning in the rolling chair to face Steve and holding up the tablet. "It's hard to tell, I mean, whoever spliced this together did a really good job and borrowed from several takes to make the motions seem fluid, so I'm betting Fury." He smirked, eyes devoid of amusement, and waved the tablet back and fourth. "Even a genius wouldn't really pick up on it when his brain's being twisted and turned inside out from palladium poisoning, but now? I've counted sixty-seven instances of splicing and five more suspected ones."

"...Why would Fury do that?" Steve asked, stepping closer almost without thought. Tony shrugged carelessly.

"To goad me, to push me into doing the impossible again," he suggested, but Steve broke in.

"No, I mean... why would he go through the trouble to _fake_ a tape of Howard saying he's proud of you?" he asked, the question hovering behind his eyes, _Didn't you already hear that from Howard yourself?_

"Because he never was," Tony said flatly, dashing that fragile hope. "I know he was your friend, _intimately_ know that, because he never shut up about you, couldn't stop going on about how great you were and how he had to find you, that finding you was the most important task he had even over being a husband and father, and I'd bet the reactor--" He tapped the glowing blue circle in his chest illustratively. "--that this film reel was originally meant for you, not me."

"How can you sit there and say things like that?!" Steve burst out, angry and horrified and not sure which emotion was winning out.

"Because it's true," Tony answered flatly. "And I've got twice the normal dose of anti-anxiety meds running through me in place of alcohol to get me through watching these... _inspiring_ parodies of home movies without having a panic attack or seven." He grimaced. "Try to forget I said that; this shit is worse than sodium penthanol when I'm stressed and sleep-deprived. Forget that, too, I wouldn't put it past Fury to use it against me."

"Why are you watching them, then?" Steve asked at length, half-fearing the answer. "If they're just upsetting you..."

"Figured if I couldn't find the originals they used, I'd unsplice this one and give you the lot of them as a Christmas-In-July present," Tony said. "I mean, he _was_ your friend and all, I thought you'd appreciate getting to see how he never gave up on you."

Steve stared at Tony, mute and floundering, completely unable to think of what he should say... do... _feel_ about his one-time friend's son putting himself voluntarily through an emotional hell to try and piece together something meaningful for a man he didn't even know and had given every evidence of not even liking much. Steve felt his gut clench like he'd been punched as he realized that this was _why_ Tony didn't like him, that his own father had always treated him as second best to _Steve_ even when he wasn't there. The silence stretched, with Tony staring at Steve and Steve staring back.

Finally, Tony looked away, fingers twitching as if he wanted to reach for something before remembering that whatever it was wasn't to hand, and turned. "JARVIS, resume play--"

"JARVIS, please turn off the projection," Steve broke in, finding his voice. The AI complied and the wall went blank, leaving the room illuminated only by the soft white glow of the tablet's screen and the brighter blue glow of the arc reactor.

"What the hell?" Tony exclaimed, sitting up sharply. "Steve--"

"Don't do this to yourself, Tony," Steve said, reaching out through the gloom until his hand found Tony's shoulder. The other man stiffened beneath the touch, but didn't move away, and Steve took the risk of stepping closer. "Please don't. If Howard could obsess over a dead man to the point of neglecting his family--" _Or worse,_ a nasty little voice spoke up in his mind, making him swallow hard. "--then he wasn't the man I called my friend."

"...It's not like he was wrong," Tony said after a moment, voice quiet as if the words were drawn from him reluctantly. "You _are_ pretty damned amazing, Rogers."

"Oh, I don't know," Steve said, feeling his cheeks flush with heat and glad of the darkness to cover it. "I think his son's 'pretty damned amazing', actually."

Beneath his hand, Steve felt Tony's shoulders tremble, and for a moment he feared he'd actually made the other man cry. But then Tony was pulling away, swivelling in his chair to look up at Steve with an awkward, almost shy-looking smile illuminated by the blue reactor glow and hinting at a brightness in his otherwise dark eyes.

"Hi," Tony said, offering the hand not holding the tablet. "I'm Tony. Nice to meet you." Steve stared at him for a moment before he started to smile, feeling just as awkward and shy.

"Hi, Tony, I'm Steve," he said, ducking his head a little as he shook the other man's hand. "Think we could be friends?"

"I'd like that," Tony answered, grinning up at Steve, for the first time without a barrier of smirks and sarcasm, and Steve couldn't help but grin back, happy and relieved that had this chance to make things right.

...He was still burning those film reels.


End file.
